CSK vs LSG: Marcus Stoinis hundred powers Lucknow’s record chase at Chepauk

Marcus Stoinis played an absolute blinder as LSG beat CSK by 6 wickets in Match No.39 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Tuesday in Chennai.

Stoinis stayed not out on 124 runs off 63 balls with 13 fours and 6 sixes as LSG recorded the highest successful IPL run-chase at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The record was earlier held by Shikhar Dhawan’s PBKS, who tracked down 201 against CSK last year.

After being asked to bat first, the Super Kings lost the early wicket of Ajinkya Rahane after KL Rahul took an absolute stunner with the keeping gloves, but got themselves up to a formidable score of 210 for 4. CSK dropped Rachin Ravindra for Daryl Mitchell, but the move did not work out as expected after Yash Thakur accounted for the latter’s wicket. Ravindra Jadeja also failed to step on the gas.

However, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube took charge. The duo put on 104 runs for the third wicket off 7.5 overs to help CSK past the 200-run mark. Gaikwad became the first CSK skipper to hit a hundred in the IPL. He stayed not out on 108 runs off 60 balls with the help of 12 fours and 3 sixes.

Dube also threw the kitchen sink at everything to score 66 runs off 27 balls with 3 fours and 7 sixes before getting run out. MS Dhoni entertained the crowd as he hit Marcus Stoinis for a four through the square leg region. Matt Henry was arguably the standout batter for LSG after he finished with figures of 4-0-28-1.

Marcus Stoinis comes out firing
The Super Giants got off to a terrible start as Quinton de Kock chopped one onto his stumps off Deepak Chahar. De Kock failed to open his account, after which skipper KL Rahul also fell cheaply. Rahul won the Player of the Match award against CSK in Lucknow, but failed to replicate something similar this time around.

Devdutt Padikkal had a painstaking stay after he scored 13 runs off 19 balls before Matheesha Pathirana ended his misery. During this while, Stoinis kept playing his shots and brought up his half-century off 33 balls, but the required run rate kept climbing. It needed something special from Stoinis and his partner, Nicholas Pooran, to pull off something special.

From there on, Pooran and Stoinis kept playing big shots as LSG needed 54 runs to win off their last 24 balls. Pooran laid into Shardul Thakur in the 16th over, taking 20 runs and shifting the pressure to the CSK camp. The left-hander looked ominous after racing to 34, but Pathirana sent him back as Thakur took a well-judged catch.

Stoinis got to his hundred off 56 balls, but with LSG needing 17 runs to win off the last over, the match was in the balance. However, he took only 3 balls to take his team home. He started the over with a six before hitting 3 fours in a row, one of which was of a no ball.

With the defeat, the Super Kings slipped to fifth in the table. The Super Giants, on the other hand, moved to fourth after back-to-back wins over the defending champions.